Bangladesh court ordered the arrest of Khaleda Zia for arson attack

Vastavam web: A Bangladesh court today ordered the arrest of former prime minister Khaleda Zia in connection with bomb attacks on a bus during an anti-government agitation in 2015 that killed eight persons, a police official said.Judge Joynab Begum of the Comilla district court accepted the charge sheet filed by the police in the case and issued the arrest warrant, the official said.The BNP, along with 20 alliance partners, had given a call for a nationwide transport blockade in 2015 in protest against the first anniversary of the polls.

Eight passengers were killed after protestors hurled petrol bombs on a bus in the central Comilla district during the agitation.Zia also faces similar charges in different courts for spearheading a protracted violent campaign three years ago in which over 125 people lost their lives, mostly in arson attacks on buses and trucks.Today’s court order came a day after prosecutors demanded death sentence for the BNP leader and Zia’s son Tarique Rahman and 48 others for their alleged involvement in two cases of murder and blasts.Rehman, the BNP’s senior vice president who lives in exile in London, is accused of planning an attack in 2004 in which more than 10 grenades were thrown in a rally organised by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party when she was in opposition and Zia was in power.